Watchtower Conference Room
by Agent Michael
Summary: Superman conducts an investigation on why a Justice League mission ended in tragedy. OC. Written as a challenge from a friend.


Disclaimer: This story contains numerous characters atributed to the DC comics universe. I don't claim to own any of their copyrights. However there is a couple of original characters that I have inserted into the universe.  
Note: This is a story written on a chalenge from a dear friend and is dedicated to her. She has already proven to be my _Greek muse of epic poetry_.

* * *

Superman tried hard to control his anger. He grunted and scrunched his jaw. At one point, the assembled members of the Justice League feared that they might be a victim to Superman's searing heat vision. Superman started to stay something, but instead turned his back on the conference table and paced back and forth. He searched for something to say that would impact the dire seriousness of the situation. 

Superman again turned to confront the gathering of heroes. "A good woman is dead," Superman said after a dramatic pause. "I want to know what happened."

Even the Batman was worried that he might attract some of Superman's wrath. He sat there with the perpetual stoic mood at the conference table looking at the junior members of the Justice League. He studied their postures and body signals individually.

"I will give you to the count of three to explain yourselves," said Superman in a low voice holding back his anger.

At first no one submitted their eyewitness account. To the left of Batman was Booster Gold, a hero from the future. Booster's companion computer, Skeets, hovered over his head. The next seat belonged to the man they called "the Question". The faceless and inquisitive hero brought to the table a knack for finding clues with the most obscure connections. The next seat contained Grappler. He was a former Olympic wrestler who slowly developed superhuman strength. To his left sat The Huntress, a vigilante assassin who is scarred with the deaths of her family by the mob. Seated next to her was the always malleable Plastic Man.

The Batman flung out photographs on the conference table of the recently deceased. "Jessica Carter," said Superman continuing his outrage in a modified serious tone. "Age 22, graduated top of her class at Princeton University, trained with the Tibetan monks developing her mental telepathy gifts promising to make this world a better place."

After another dramatic pause Superman again turned his back to the table to pace the room. The Batman searched again on the faces of the group to see if any of the information had sunk in. "And now she's dead. She gave her life so that you all can sit here now," said Superman.

"Three……. Two…." the Man of Steel counted down.

The first to speak up was Grappler. "Alright! It was all Booster Gold's fault."

"It was not!"throttled Booster Gold.

"If you hadn't gone back to retrieve your precious companion, then we would have all been aboard before the explosion," countered Grappler.

"Actually, by my account we had approximately 7 minutes and 15.3 seconds to evacuate the area," Skeets, the golden orb of a supercomputer had chimed in. "The rescue attempt, though strongly advised against it, took 10 minutes and 37.5 seconds."

"You're not helping, Skeets." Booster Gold replied.

"We reached the ship at the right time," added Huntress. "Jessica…'er… Spirit, as we knew her, was slow and couldn't keep up with the group."

"You never leave a teammate behind," Batman added.

"Then what happened," asked Superman.

"Question was already at the controls of the spacecraft," said Booster Gold. "We tried to tell him that there were still people that needed to be accounted for."

"I was told to take off, that it was clear," the Question said.

"Plastic Man, Huntress, and Grapple were the last to get on board before the loading bay doors had to be closed," said Booster Gold while looking at Superman for a reaction.

"I tried my best," added Plastic Man. "I was able to reach out and grab Grapple and Huntress. Then I saw Spirit running for us in the distance. The shuttle was taking off. I knew I had enough time."

"Negative," said Skeets. "You did your best, but had you stayed outside the ship you would have been caught in the explosion and incinerated by the flames that was already endangering the ship."

Plastic Man, usually able to find jovial humor in just about any situation, could only weep in his hands at the thought that he alone was responsible for Jessica's death. "If I only could have done more," he mumbled.

"There was only so far you could stretch, P-man," Grapple noted.

"Yes, even your amazing elasticity has it's limits," said Huntress placing a consoling hand on Plastic Man's shoulder.

"Question," said Superman as he turned to examine the driver. "Did you get the message that there was still people trapped outside the ship?"

"No," placed the Question. "As a matter of fact, I was given the all clear sign by Grapple."

"That's a lie!" yelled Grapple as he leapt to his feet.

"Sit down," demanded Superman. His eyes started to glow red.

As Plastic Man removed his spectacled glasses to wipe his tears away, he said; "I saw her. I saw the look on her face. In her last moments, she thought everyone was going to leave her."

"We all failed her," added Skeets.

Getting up as if he had heard enough, Batman scowled in disgust and disappointment at the failure of the team's mission. He got up, turned his back to the conference table, and gestured to his intentions of departure.

Superman had followed Batman for a few steps towards the door. "What's your assessment?"

"The Question may be an odd ball, but I've never known him to lie like that," Batman testified. "Grapple has been nervous this whole time. He has been flexing his leg muscles and stretching his neck muscles a lot."

"Kind of like being uncomfortable in his own skin."

"Plastic Man is a prankster. I've never seen him that torn up about the girl's death. He has shown his heart."

"Okay, I'll call you if I need you again." Superman said in closing.

The Batman stepped quietly out of the room and down the hall towards the observation deck of the Justice League's satellite base, codenamed "the Watchtower." Superman sat down in his designated chair and left the assembly of heroes to ponder more.

"I saw you arguing with Spirit during the mission," inquired the Question towards Grapple.

Before Grapple could answer, the Huntress interjected with a thought of her own. "Wasn't there some sort of cancellation button or abort code that you could have pressed?"

"No, our orders was to return to the Watchtower once the mission was completed." Grapple stated.

There was an uncomfortable pause. "Have you talked to Jessica's parents yet," asked Booster Gold to Superman.

"No, I wanted to gather as much information as I could from this inquiry before proceeding with those formalities."

"Well, I'm out of here," said Grapple ripping off his headgear and shoving his hands into his varsity jacket. "I told you all I know. Cadmus labs are destroyed and a girl is dead. Time to move on."

Superman made a fist. He didn't like the tone that Grapple took trivializing a team member's sacrifice. While Grapple made a line for the exit, a green figure slowly rose up through the floor and stood among the team.

"It's the Martian Manhunter," stated Skeets.

The Justice League member, affectionately known as J'onn J'onzz, who mans the Watchtower observation deck, impeded Grapple's escape and said, "There is someone among us, in this room, that is not who they claim to be."

"That's silly," said Grapple. "Of course we all have identities other than the ones we use here."

"No," said the menacing Martian. "I mean to say that one of you is a traitor. A saboteur."

Superman stood up. "That's a pretty hefty allegation, J'onn. What proof do you have to levy with such a charge."

"It's very simple." said the Martian. "Spirit told me." J'onn J'onzz, the Martian, waved his hands towards the exit door and with that simple gesture, the widening doors revealed a miraculous discovery. A woman with brown hair and average height and dressed in a flowing shall had been standing ready.

"Spirit! You're alive!" Plastic Man was the first to recognize the woman, turn himself into a spring and immediately bolted to greet his once thought fallen teammate.

"In the flesh!" giggled Spirit, pleased at the happy reception.

As the other teammates got up to greet Spirit, J'onn J'onzz had detained Grapple. "You set those demolitions to go off early, didn't you Grapple," asked Spirit.

"No, you've got no proof! You should be dead!" yelled Grapple.

Grapple made a lunge for Spirit, lowering his shoulder intending to use his muscular body as a battering ram. Plastic Man, after he wasn't able to save Spirit the first time, redeemed himself by forming himself as a screen. He then barricaded the charging fighter from reaching the target. Grapple was thrust backwards, but not defeated in the least.

Booster Gold then charged the raging hulk by diving on top of him. Being a highly trained Greco-Roman styled wrestler, Grapple was able to counter Booster and slip away. The Huntress loaded her signature crossbow and fired at Grapple's direction, but missed within inches. Grapple was quite fleet footed for a muscled warrior, Huntress thought.

Running for the door, J'onn J'onzz again used his Martian teleportation powers to pop up in front of Grapple. The fleeing villain may be stout, but he wasn't invulnerable. Grapple ran into the Martian Manhunter like running into a brick wall only to fall to the floor unconscious.

"Enough of this," Spirit screamed. She touched her forehead as a light grew from her face and head. Some of her teammates were around to see in amazement the manifestation of Spirit's mental capabilities.

Spirit's mental energy was directed to her now fallen foe. The light energy had lifted Grapple up levitating him until he could be turned upright and planted feet first. "Go ahead," demanded Spirit, "I believe you owe all of us an explanation."

Surrendering his will to the mental powers, Grapple made a clean confession. "Cadmus labs. They saw me at Nationals and gave me the special training to help my career. If I was willing to use all their equipment, they would make me unstoppable."

"And," Spirit nudged for more information.

"Cadmus knew the assault on their base was coming. Heck, they even gave me a pat on the back for me telling them. So, I joined up with the Justice League so I could prevent the lab's destruction."

Grapple tried to move, but was held suspended by Spirit's mental powers. He continued his confession. "The only thing that got in my way was your power to read my mind. You found out in my head, my loyalty to Cadmus labs, and I was afraid that you'd blow my cover."

"That must have been what the argument was about," solved the Question.

"I gave you the 'all clear' hoping that the one woman who knew my secret would be destroyed in the fire." said Grapple looking at the Question.

"What are you going to do with him," asked Superman to Spirit.

"My spiritual training with the Tibetan monks have trained me well." she stated. "The cycle of violence and retribution ends with me. He has my forgiveness. I can do nothing more."

"J'onn," Superman ordered as he was accustomed to do, "take him over to the holding cells. We'll figure out what to do with him soon enough."

The Justice League huddled around Spirit as the Martian took the subdued wrestler into custody. As the team eventually left to their own accord, the two remaining heroes were Plastic Man and Spirit. Spirit leaned in towards Plastic Man and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"Aw, shucks, Kiddo." Plastic Man blushed. "What was that for?"

"For saving my life back there."

"Why? I thought you were done for. I saw you get caught up in the explosion."

"You only saw what I wanted you to see. I made a mental projection of myself to you and to the others so you would believe that I perished. Actually, right before the big explosion happened, I had ducked out a side door."

Relieved of the solution, Plastic Man inquired further. "How did you get here"  
"I was able to reach Jon telepathically in enough time, so he was able to pick me up on his own. That was then I told him about Grapple's betrayal.

A silence befell the young couple as they strolled down the Watchtower hallways.

"You were in my head just now, weren't you," said Plastic Man.

"Yes. You were really distraught over my demise, I see."

"I thought I had failed you. I tried so hard to stretch and reach out for you. I don't think I could've ever been able to let that feeling go."

"I'm so sorry for letting you go through all of that. J'onn and Superman was going to conduct an interrogation to flush out the traitor. It was necessary for everyone to believe that I died."

"Tell ya what," Plastic Man was about to suggest. "Can you read anybody's mind?"

"Yes, I have unfettered access to anyone's mind, but I don't use my gifts recklessly."

"Ah, that's too bad, 'cause I am hoping that I could introduce you to the Flash. He hid my towels out of my barracks and maybe you can help tell me where he hid them."

**FIN**


End file.
